Morning journal and courier., 1887-06-30

Remarkable Equipages That May be
Seen Up Town-Mr. Vanderb1lt's
Buggy.
From the Savannah Newsl
New York is brilliant when on wheels
The care that is lavished on the stables of
thousands of men and women here makes
the east drive in the park the most brilliant
and showy place in New York. Fifth ave-
nue. is lined with harness shops and the sales.
rooms of big carriage factories, and no man
achieves eminence so quickly in society as
the one who shines through the perfection of
his stable. The American girl is pushing
herself forward on the east drive of the
park, as she is everywhere else. She Is not
content to 1oll in victoria like her sister in
Paris, or sit primly in the corner of q Brit
ish brougham. She drives. Nothing faxes
her, and occasionally she is what the vulgar
call ga sight,
For instance yesterday saw big T cart
rolling down the drive with an amount of
pomposity, noise and show that would shame
an old-time circus band wagon. It was a
magnificent cart. The wheels were red and
very big and heavy, the body bottle green
and the seats higher than the top of the av-
erage closed carriage. There was magnif-
cent team of bays to the cart, groomed till
their coats shone like satin. They were
about seventeen hands high, perfectly
matched, and they pounded the earth with
their giant hoofs like so many animated pile
drivers The big steel chains that ran from
their collars to the pole of the cart changed
and ratified as they rushed along the drive,
the very personifcation of power and force.
On the seat high above their heads and hold
ing the big white ribbons in her tiny hands
sat girl of perhaps nineteen years, with
slim arms, delicate features and fragile
waist She held her hands we'll up, with
the whip hanging crosswise, and her feet
were braced firmly. By her side sat Sc
| rene and placid young woman of about the
same age, who lolled back gracefully under a
crimson parasol, and who seemed to regard
her driver with the most serene confidence.
On the rear seat was big English groom
with his hands clasped on his knees and his
eyes half starting from his head. There
were ten thousand carriages whirling along
the park, and the girl on the box seat missed
about nine thousand of them by nothing
less than a miracle. She was able to guide
the horses by mighty tug on one rein or
the other, but all the rest had to be left to
their training. 1t was evident that they
scarcely knew she was at the other end of
the reins.
The struggle to get something out of the
ordinary was instanced a moment later by
the appearance of gentleman who is vari-
ously known as "No Mans Friend" and the
"Baron of Baccarat." He had small two
wheeled cart and a neatly groomed bobtail
black mare. The mare was the color of ink
She hadn't white spot on her. Every part
of the cart was pure white. 1t may have
been ash polished and whitened, but what
ever the wood was it was almost the color of
driven snow. Even the spokes of the wheels
were of virgin white, but the grain of the
wood could be seen easily in them. The
leather cushions and trappings were white,
and there was prettily embroidered white
robe over the shaky knee of the baron. He
was dressed entirely in black, and his SOM
bre face was in sharp contrast to the gay lit
tie vehicle. The black mare wore huge
white canvas collar, white reins and white
traces. They looked doubly brilliant against
her black coat. This turnout was the sensa-
ton of the park during the day To-mor-
row nobody will notice it, and the baron will
be reduced to some other scheme to attract
attention.
A back county sheriff would have been
astonished at the possibilities of the prime
val buggy if he had seen one that passed me
near the entrance to the park It was the
buggy pure and simple, but it was of such
exquisite workmanship that it showed the
great advance that the carriage makers had
made in recent years. The wheels were al
as light and fragile as a jewel case. It was
swung on sidebar springs of course, and the
team of light sorrels ran far ahead and very
wide apart They were not trotting horses,
| but high bred, lightweight English carriage
horses, trained to move at sharp canter and
in perfect unison. They were not checked,